Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello! I've been lurking for a while now, and having started a new project, I figured it was also time to actually create an account and get posting.

So, inspired on one hand by the Horus Heresy books, and on the other by the fantastic work I've seen by modellers like Skits and Proiteus, I've started building a pre-heresy Thousand Sons army.

Well then, with no further ado, allow me to introduce my testbed model!



As you can see, he started out as the Forge World 2011 show-only Boarding Marine in Mk. III armour, though he's seem some modification since then. Obviously his shield and the blade of his khopesh come from the Tomb Kings' Tomb Guard, which is an absolute treasure trove of bits. His robes are GS'd together, and while they're far from perfect, given that I've just started back on the hobby after a couple years' break, I'm not deeply dissatisfied with them. The helmet is the one that came with the FW model, with a crest from the TS upgrade pack. He's just blu-tacked together for now, as he's still a WIP with a bit of a ways to go.



With the red of his armour, I've tried my best to keep the red from looking too Khornate; the pictures have colour-shifted a bit, but IRL it's more of a burgundy than a true red, with some Druchii Violet and Drakenhof Nightshade washes to cool the colour own a bit. Originally (and I'm kicking myself for not taking more progress shots) I'd given him a cream-coloured robe/tabard, but against the darker tones of his armour, it was waaaay too much. Hence, the indigo robes in the style of the cover art for A Thousand Sons; I'm much happier with them this colour. Much more sorcerous and mysterious, I think. I'm pretty happy with how the legion symbol turned out, particularly the XV in the middle.



His backpack still needs a decent amout of work; frankly, I'd forgotten the fact of its existence, and have only started painting it. His base, on the other hand, is intentionally untouched; I've ordered some models from Forge World (ten each of their Mk. III marines and Cataphractii terminators), and I'm planning on making a scenic base for the lot of them. Otherwise, I'm fairly happy with how he's coming together! Being the pilot figure for the rest of the army, C&C is of course welcome; I'd rather have whatever fatal errors I'm committing pointed out now, rather than many models (and dollars) down the track.



That's all from me for now. Stay tuned!

--

PS. I'm not sure if this should be here in P&M Blogs, or if it should be over in the P&M forum proper. I'm sure someone will set me straight if I've misplaced it?

Wow this is amazing! Please do more!

Now this is cool! Truly awesome job here! The tomb king elements really make it for me, make it unique.

Look forwards to see how this comes along, keep it up!

My (first) Forge World shipment arrived today! As I mentioned in my first post, I ordered ten each of the Mk. III 'Iron'-armoured marines, and the Cataphractii terminators, plus weapons for each. (This is half that, and is the first of two identical shipments, but the reason for my having two identical FW shipments is another story for another day.)



I went with the Tigrus-pattern bolters for the power-armoured marines, as from what I've been able to tell from the fluff, they were the pattern most likely to be seen just before the Heresy. The terminators got their matching FW power axes, not so much because I like power axes (I'm not a huge fan), but because I figured they'll be the easiest to convert into khopesh-bladed halberds. Though it must be said, I'm no longer quite so sure about those - I was skimming A Thousand Sons for some inspiration, and noticed this:

Three Terminators of the Scarab Occult stood at each corner. Each carried a bladed sekhem staff, and their storm bolters were held tightly across the jade and amber scarab design on their breastplates.

Now, my resident expert on Egyptology (Google) tells me a sekhem staff looks like this:



I'm torn; the sekhem is pretty great, aesthetically speaking, and I would like to be true (ish) to the book; there's also the fact that a more ceremonial- (though slightly less practical-) looking sort of weapon would suit the Sekhmet's role as honour guard to Magnus. On the other hand, I was looking forward to using the Tomb Guard's halberds, and I'm not 100% confident of my ability to hand-sculpt a ten-man squad's worth of sekhem sceptres. Opinions?

There's also the fact that they're described as wearing "atef helmets"; the atef was the tall, white bottle-shaped crown of ancient Upper Egypt, with two peacock feathers added on; the rest of the legion is described as wearing the deshret, the red crown of Lower Egypt. That idea doesn't really grab me, to be frank - I think I'll be using the artwork (even the cover of A Thousand Sons doesn't show either sort of crown) as more of a guide than the literature, as far as visuals go.



I've got everything unpacked, and I'm impatient to get stuck in. Unfortunately, it's all now soaking to get rid of the release agent that is such a bane to (surely trivial and unimportant) things like blu-tac, paint and adhesives. If only I didn't want to test-fit, paint or assemble my models, I could just get started! Wait...



You'll note that the containers of soapy water are lidded. This is because, otherwise, my cat would drink the water. The foamy, detergent-flavoured water. Because he’s a cat.

That's all for now. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post an update next, as the weather in Australia (or, at least, my part of it) has gone from a blazing nigh-50°C (that's 122°F, for non-metric folk) with the humidity of a swamp, to ceaseless misty drizzle. Neither, of course, is great for going outside and spraying on an undercoat. Still, stay tuned; I refuse to let the weather defeat me for long!

Looking great man! I'm gonna keep my eye on this one.

This looks like it could be awsome. Haven't seen ayone try doing it quite like this before, going to be interesting to see how you do.
Good Luck.

Thanks to everyone who's posted thus far for the kind comments! As it seems like the general consensus so far is at least "Hm. Not terrible, I'll carry on, haha.

A very minor update. The second half of my Forge World shipment has arrived, so I've got full squads of ten Cataphractii and Mk. III marines to play with. Happily, the weather has moderated a bit, so I've been able to undercoat everything. Here you can see the most recent shipment drying off from its soapy immersion, on my Marvellous Device for the Drying of Submersed Miniature Plastics, Secured by Convenient Strips of Gummed Paper (patent pending):



This is of course not to be confused with my Splendid Tool for Securing Miniature Plastics in Place Whilst Applying Aerosolised Undercoats (also patent pending). You can tell them apart quite easily - the latter is black in appearance.



I've been debating with myself on what's the best assortment of miniatures to put together with what I have. At this point, I'm planning something like:

4x Sekhmet terminators with Sekhem staves, as a personal honour guard for Magnus himself, who I'm planning on making some time in the future. These guys will be done to a faily high standard of glory, with the sekhem scepters (as pictured above, but bladed as described in the book) more as ceremonial weapons than true killing tools.

6x Sekhmet terminators with khopesh-style, chain-bladed halberds. These members of the Scarab Occult will be slightly less ornamented than their four contemporaries above; more obviously elite killers than honour guards.

1x Mk. III marine done up to represent Ahriman, to lead the Scarab Occult; modelled to represent him as depicted in this image and this one.

4x Mk. III tactical marines, done to match the boarding marine above. I'm not decided on their armament yet; I'm torn between khopesh swords as on my boarding marine, with their Tigrus bolters slung or holstered at their side, or khopesh-bladed halberds in the style of tactical Grey Knights, possibly with the Tigrus bolters integral to the weapon, a la the Adeptus Custodes. Opinions, please?

The remaining 5 Mk. III marines I'll be doing up as additional characters, each as a sorcerer from one of the five Cults (Athenaean, Corvidae, Pavoni, Pyrae and Raptora).

I've started putting together some weapon ideas. Here's a basically finished Scarab Occult khopesh/chainblade/halberd (right), and a blu-tacked mockup of a tactical marine's halberd with integral bolter (middle), as well as my boarding marine's khopesh (left) for scale.



I'm entirely pleased with how the chain-halberd came out. It's a Cataphractii power axe, with its blade inverted and lengthened with a section of chainsword spliced into the middle, and the handle of a Tomb Guard's polearm. It looks pretty good with the Cataphractii armour:




The Custodes-style weapon I'm less certain about. I'll do a mock-assembly with a Mk. III holding the prototype above, to see how it looks. Again, I'd love to get your thoughts on the matter.

Otherwise, next step: so many GS robes. Stay tuned!

Subbed. Loving the increase in quality pre heresy armies.

Welcome to the 1k Son club! Great looking first model, I see great potential in this blog! Exalted and eager for more...

If you are in search of good looking weapons, I developed a cunning way of chopping up Grey knight swords and halberds that you may want to try.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/321197-Converted%20power%20sword.html

Great job! I love me some 'pre-fall' T-sons! They got a raw deal.

Wow I think this is probably going to become my favourite thread! Keep up the good work!

Hello all! Behold the return of the prodigal thread, risen like a phoenix from the ashes, etc. etc.

In all seriousness, let me tender my apologies for the long silence here at Before Prospero Fell. After my last update, I assembled the rest of the first squad of Scarab Occult, started sculpting cloaks and such for them... then everything fell apart. Long story short, I couldn't produce anything I was satisfied with, which led to a crippling ennui. Hence, no updates.

However, there are three things guaranteed to lift me out of that kind of deep funk; a supply drop, new models, and new projects. As it turns out, I ended up with all three. Beware: long update ahead.


1. Supply Drop

Scouting around a bit for inspiration in the form of bitz, I discovered (nearly too late) that Hoard'o'Bits was clearing out everything to re-organise in light of the new US postal fees. Quite literally before my eyes, hoardobits.com emptied out; as I went page-to-page, the available-products category list on the left got shorter and shorter. So I missed out there, but I did get to their eBay store before the end. One mad buying spree minutes before everything was taken down and an impatient wait later, I think I can safely say that I won't be running out of Grey Knights or Tomb Kings bits for a while:



The second half of my supply drop is a direct result of Dakka scratch-building luminaries such as The_Blackadder, mxwllmdr and the rest of the League of Extraordinary Riveters. I can safely say I've caught the scratch building bug... therefore:




2. New Models

A quick story for you. My partner (also a Warhammerer) and I went down to a local second-hand furniture and consignment shop looking for a display case for our minis. Instead, we found a rickety old cupboard chock-full of miniatures, many of them semi-rare or OOP; the previous owner had apparently stored the cupboard with them still in it, then neglected to pay their storage fees, so the cupboard and its contents were consigned. I'll make a thread elsewhere cataloguing the haul, but there were a few which I could see adding to my Sons:




The predator, while rather sloppily painted and absolutely drenched in glue, eventually yielded to Simple Green and acetone-free nail polish remover. It'll be de-Chaosified and pressed into the service of my PH Sons, but not before I make a template of its components. I did say I have the scratch-building bug - hopefully this won't be the only Mk.I Rhino-variant you'll be seeing on these pages in days to come!

As for the dreadnought, it's very obviously post-Heresy and Chaosy. So, my plan is to paint up a bit of a complement of post-Heresy sons, of which this metal beast will form part. Apparently, it too was utterly soaked with superglue, before being painted with what that pic doesn't show as a rather unpleasant metallic purple; not to mention the fact that the waist-piece with all the dread's sensors and lenses was on backwards, so the poor fellow was perpetually looking behind himself. He's since been stripped and disassembled.

Two more models from the Haul which grabbed me were some more civilian-style types, who I've decided will become remembrancers for the PH Sons. The first, a scribe, won't see much modification, as I can't imagine a more perfect Ignace Karkasy-style poet-remembrancer:



The second was one of the older-model metal astropath figures. I felt he needed a bit more modification, and eventually decided on making him an imagist. I decided on a David Attenborough type; the dignified, elderly documentarist sort, with a floating holo-camera drone. I knew exactly the bit I wanted as a base for the drone: the gun-camera attachment from a Land Raider's sponsons. I knew I had one, and it'd be perfect. Of course, do you think I could find it? Ha! Fortunately, it was at about this point that my styrene shipment showed up, so what better time, I asked myself, to start on the path of scratch-building? I'm pretty pleased with the result:





He ended up a bit of a mixed bag. The drone includes Necron bits, parts from an IG command vox-caster and servo-skull, a gubbin or two from the Cataphractii, and of course an amount of scratch-built components like the chassis, lenses, heat sink and boom microphone. Some of the joints are a bit scruffy and imprecise, but for my first time I've ever worked with styrene, I'm pretty proud.


3. New Projects

A few more projects to show you. First, I've started planning for some Prospero Spireguard to augment the Sons. They're described as wearing greatcoats over silver armour, topped off with a silver shako. For the bodies, I've ordered the legs of some High Elf Phoenix Guard; I quite like the scale armour, and the wing decorations will match the Sons' winged scarab motif perfectly. The first squad I make will be carrying Tomb Kings Skeleteon Warrior shields (to match the boarding marine above, but a bit plainer), and be armed with these:



And for the shako, I'll be combining some TK arm guards with some GS to make these:



I've tried to blend together the traditional military shako with a more Egyptian-esque, Pharaonic look.

Second new project: I've decided that, to inspire myself to work on the Sons, they shouldn't just be an army I'm building, but part of something grander. So, I've started planning an Armies on Parade board. Not much progress on this so far, but here's a concept plan:



I'm imagining the plaza just outside one of Tizca's pyramids. The brown squares marked L I'm picturing as plinths for the silver lion statues described in A Thousand Sons, with the green areas as parkland. The processional plaza rising from the parkland leads to the pyramid entry, marked 'Atrium', which has a sliding, dog-toothed gate sitting open. I'm picturing my Sons spilling forth from the pyramid to turn back Russ' baying hordes.

One more project, then I'm done. I'd like to model some tutelaries for the Sons, perhaps to act as allied daemons in gaming terms, or perhaps just objective markers. Ahriman's tutelary Aaetpio is described thusly:

Aaetpio had served Ahriman faithfully for nearly a century, its form inconstant and beautiful, a vision of eyes and ever turning wheels of light.

The description put me in mind of a piece of artwork/character design I'm rather fond of, namely The Collect by Keith Thomson:



As I mentioned, I particularly enjoy that piece, and it seemed to fit the description of Aaetpio rather well. So here's the start of my attempt at sculpting it:



Still to add: SO MANY ROBE DETAILS, the hovering sun and moon (somehow), and the hovering disc and suspended birdcage between the horns (oh god help me).

Aaaaand that's all from me, for now. As I seem to have regained my enthusiasm, I'll hopefully be updating more often from now on!

I'd love any comments or criticisms you have for me. Thanks to everyone who's commented so far! You're what's inspired me to get moving and back to work on these guys.

I'm really liking where this is going.
The Shako head is also a good idea.

Pure genius, the spireguard I am so excited to see! The only issue I might foresee is the elf waists being too thin? I have had that problem when using wood and dark elf legs before, their hips are ridiculous!

@LordBoJangles: Thanks! I think the shako turned out fairly well. Hopefully makings squads'-worth of them doesn't drive me too insane.

@J-paint: Thanks for the kind words! I've been avidly following your AdMech/mixed Guard/tyranokrootnid/etc thread, and I absolutely love your work, so it means a lot.

As for the High Elf legs problem you foresaw, I think I'm in the clear. The Phoenix Guards to have pretty dainty, girlish waists (they are elves, after all), but as it turns out, so do the Imperial Guard (who don't have any excuses). I had a nice surprise in the letterbox this morning...



...so I grabbed a few bits and slapped them together (forgive the gratuitous quantities of Blu-tac). I'm pretty happy with how it's looking:



I think once I grind a bowl-shaped cavity in the bottom of the IG torso (they have flat waist joints, whereas it looks like the elves have ball-and-socket type joins), extend the belt and add a bit of paraphernalia (equipment pouches and such), it shouldn't look too abnormal. I'm also considering GS'ing a greatcoat of some description onto them (another feature of the Spireguard mentioned in A Thousand Sons), which would cover at least the back half of the join. There's a couple more pictures of this guy in my gallery, if you'd like to see him from any other angle.

Before I sign off, a bit of a caution for you all. Watch out for those older Mk. I Rhino-variants. It turns out, if you leave them unattended for long in the same general vicinity as a quantity of styrene, and a lunatic who's just discovered how fun styrene is to use...



...they start to multiply.



That's all from me for now. Until next time!

Hello, all. Update! It's been a while, sorry - the dreaded Real World has been interfering (most inconsiderately, imo) with much more important things like modelling. Anyhow: just a quick update for you, covering a couple of the projects I've been working on of late.


PROJECT 1

The first is the Mk. I Rhino you saw a preview of in last month's episode of Before Prospero Fell. During the construction, I decided two things: 1) I wanted it to be a bit unique, given the Thousand Sons' penchant for... unconventional approaches, shall we say, and 2) Making tracks looked like the single most tedious task. Fortunately, inspiration struck in the form of my recently acquired and already much-beloved copy of The Horus Heresy - Collected Visions:



I'm pretty happy with my version of the grav Rhino. I went for a more conventional Mk. I chassis over the modified Custodes-pattern one. It's entirely scratch-built, aside from the bulk lifter engines on the sides, which come from the new Land Speeder Vengeance kit.

Here's a few exterior views:



The ribbed cabling connecting the engines to the chassis are actually elasticised hair ties, with a length of pin inserted into their ends, and a section of styrene tubing masking the join.



The bolter turrets are magnetised for easy removal and 360° rotation.



Speaking of magnets, I decided that every hatchway and door on the thing should be hinged and magnetised. I made this decision because I'm utterly obsessive when it comes to modelling, and also because I'm apparently clinically insane. I can't tell you the heartache these friggin' hinges caused me. The top hatch, in particular, very nearly got the "Dammit, you can just be glued shut" treatment. I'm glad I stuck with it, though - aside from a couple of hinges sitting slightly crookedly, it doesn't look too terrible:



Here's a shot into the interior, up the assault ramp (complete with air-stairs ), with a good view of the tactical console and the hatchway to the drivers' compartment (also hinged and magnetised shut).



I was originally going to go for a sliding door here, in the style of the current Rhino, but decided this would fit the overall look a bit better.

In some of these shots, you can kinda see some of the interior fittings. The roof is magnetised and removable (again, obsessive-compulsive modelling, here) to give you a better view:



Who else but the Thousand Sons would have a library in a cramped APC?



Speaking of cramped, the bolter rack originally had five bolters, but the Mk. I is a pretty small model - there wasn't enough room on the wall for them!

One last shot, the last detail I added before calling it done. The source image didn't have any visible undercarriage of any description, which didn't make a heap of sense to me; I can't imagine the techpriests would be super happy to see their Rhinos being brought back safe and sound, only for the driver to kill the grav engines and dump the Rhino on the hangar floor, smashing up the engines and under-work. Hence:



Aside from a bit of gap-filling, the Rhino is effectively finished. Of course, don't hold back on me if you can see any glaring problems!


PROJECT 2

The second project I'm working on has been the result of two impulse buys: the first was a FW Comptemptor with Kheres assault cannon, power claw and Whirlwind launchers on eBay; the second was the Tomb Kings Warsphinx/Necrosphinx kit, which practically threw itself off the shelf at my FLGS last time I was there. Here's a couple of pics for you:



I have to say, it almost seems like these two kits were designed for each other. The big pectoral plate fit onto the Contemptor''s torso with only a minimal amount of GS'ing and sanding. The shin-guards fit onto the 'nought's greaves like they belonged there after a little trimming, and the lion feet (imho, at least) look pretty great as replacement feet. That's to say nothing of the arms; the ball joints of the sphinx's arms are the perfect size for the dreadnought's shoulder sockets.



You'll note that I've prepared a few arm options; I'm terrible at deciding which weapon options I'll give any given model, so with a big piece like the Contemptor, I usually end up going with ALL THE OPTIONS. For dual CCWs, the arms are magnetised to accept either the arm-scythes, which frankly need no modding:



... or another pair of the wrist/shin guards from the sphinx. They look a bit plain at the moment, but I'll be incorporating a dreadnought-scale Pharaonic crook and flail. You'll note that one of the skulls on the left arm's vambrace had to be rebuilt - I managed to destroy it while drilling the a magnet's slot



As for ranged weapons, the Kheres is the only one I have available at the moment. This was a bugger to assemble - I ended up ditching the barrels that came with the kit, as they were absolutely swathed in flash. Fortunately, 2mm styrene rods fit the bill perfectly.

I've magnetised it to attach either to the scythes:



... or the vambraces:



I'm also in the process of building a conversion beamer, which will attach to the same hardpoints.

Well, that's all for now. Let me know what you think! I'll hopefully have some more for you soon.

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read this far, and to everyone who's commented!

Until next time!

Oh my word this is absolutely astound work azrael! The spire guard are just as I imagined them to be! they are going to be perfect, I agree once they have bits round their waists etc. The greatcoats are a good idea but if you do try it I wish you much luck! I have attempted it before and could never get it looking at all right! My only comment on him might be you may need something extra at the join between lasgun and pole, which unfortunately stands out just because the lasgun has such an iconic shape.. Unfortuantely i have no idea what exactly you could use, but something subtle maybe? A wire?

As for the grav-rhino thing, that is an incredible idea! I saw that picture in my collected visions a while ago but for some reason it never occured to make it! it looks incredible! The scratchbuilding element is also spot on, It seems I will have to add you to the list of people I envy most greatly for their scratchbuilding skills!

FInally that dread is a true work of art! I would never have thought so many of those necrosphinx parts would fit so perfectly, but like you say it looks like it was almost designed to fit! The scythe arms will look incredible, I cannot wait to see this with paint, will be the new standard in thousand sons dreadnoughts!

Dont stop sir! for the love of prospero dont stop!

Just pure awesomeness and that Plasticard rhino, Holy Balls thats amazing I could try to recreate it, but it would just not work as well great work! BtW where did those engines come from i quite curious

 AzraelHunt wrote:

It's entirely scratch-built, aside from the bulk lifter engines on the sides, which come from the new Land Speeder Vengeance kit.

An inspired use I have to say, but does this mean there is a grounded landspeeder lying around now?

@ J-paint: Wow! Glowing praise, thank you!

Re. the spireguard: as it turns out, greatcoats are an utter nightmare to sculpt. Fortunately, the bunch of pouches, holstered pistols and such I ordered arrived recently, and with a collection of gear disguising the join, they look fine. I'll post some WIPs shortly.

You're right about the lasgun on the halberd, though; at the moment, it's very obviously a lasgun-onna-stick (the worst carnival food?). The wire is a good idea; I'm thinking I'll lop the power cell off the lasgun, and run some guitar wire down the pole to a power pack either in the grip, or on the belt. It'd probably make more sense that way, too; I can't imagine it'd be super easy to reload one of those things, with the power cell on a stick a meter or two away from you

Re. the dread, I wouldn't have thought they'd go together so well either; I was hoping the parts would look the part, but I was imagining many long hours of cutting, pinning, greenstuffing and other chicanery to get it all to fit. When I was marvelling to my better half about how easily it was all going together, she suggested that someone at GW or FW had the same idea for a conversion as me, and modelled either the Contemptor or the sphinx to suit, hahaha.

@ Chenkov'sList: Thanks! J-paint's got it - the engines are from the new Land Speeder Vengeance. More specifically, two sets of the bottom, un-armoured halves of the Vengeance's engine pods, with once set of the turbine fronts. I wasn't a fan of the top, armoured halves; they're more 40k than 30k.

 Chenkov'sList wrote:
...I could try to recreate it, but it would just not work as well...

Take a stab at it! Decorations aside, it's mainly made up of fairly simple, geometric shapes. As long as you can get decent measurements, or even a good reference photo with some idea of scale, the chassis isn't too tough to put together. It was all the fiddly little bits that took me forever

 J-paint wrote:
...does this mean there is a grounded landspeeder lying around now?

No, haha, I don't think I could stand to purchase a Vengeance just to chop it up. The engines came courtesy of eBay. And what with how bitz vendors are starting to feel the heat, I'm thinking I should stock up, before GW turns their baleful gaze on eBay sellers

--

That's all for tonight; no real update, sorry. Stay tuned, though; the Rhino will be seeing its first few licks of paint in the not-too-distant future, and the Contemptor shouldn't be too far behind (hopefully). Thanks again for the kind words!

Until next time